Stockline lining for a blast furnace



Dec. 19, 1967 o. B. ANDERSON E AL 3,358,986

STOCKLINE LINING FOR A BLAST FURNACE Filed Sept. 10, 1964 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 HIE-.1-

'l/VVE/VTORS. 050/11? 8. ANDERSON and JAMES; M. MUNDELL Attorney Dec. 19, 1967 O. B. ANDERSON ET AL STOCKLINE LINING FOR A BLAST FURNACE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 10, 1964 INVENTORS. OSCAR B. ANDERSON and JAMES M. MUNDELL By M26 fizlz'w Attorney United States Patent 3,358,986 STOCKLINE LINING FOR A BLAST FURNACE Oscar B. Anderson, Hobart, and James M. Mundell, Gary, Ind., assignors to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 10, 1964, Ser. No. 395,487 8 Claims. (Cl. 266-43) This invention relates to a stockline lining for a blast furnace and more particularly to an armored construction for protecting the lining from damage due to the burden being charged into the furnace. Iron producing blast furnaces have a hopper and a large bell from which the charge or burden consisting essentially of coke, limestone and iron ore is charged into the furnace. The bell deflects the charge outwardly against the refractory lining in the stockline zone and unless the lining is protected the impact and abrasion of the charge will rapidly wear away this portion of the lining. The most common way of protecting the furnace lining is by providing a series of steel plates which are embedded in the brickwork of the lining and cover the face of the lining. The plates are normally anchored into only half the thickness of the furnace lining and the weight of the plates tend to pull both the plates and the lining into the furnace as the burden moves downwardly. As the lining below the wear plates erodes away, the heavy wear plates and the refractory lining in which they are embedded become loose and frequently fall into the furnace. When a castable refractory is used in place of refractory brick it is diflicult to compact the refractory without leaving voids under the horizontal section of the wear plates.

It is therefore an object of our invention to provide a stockline lining which utilizes wearing elements of lighter weight than those previously used and which are so supported that they will not become loose or fall into the furnace.

Another object is to provide a stockline lining which provides better protection and yet is of less thickness than the former linings.

Still another object is to provide such a lining in which the wearing elements are embedded in castable refractory so as to form a reinforced unitary monolithic lining.

These and other objects will be more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional view of a top portion of a blast furnace showing one embodiment of our invention incorporated therein;

FIGURE 2 is a view taken on the line IIII of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view showing the assembly of the wear plates of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a view, similar to FIGURE 1, showing a second embodiment of our invention;

FIGURE 5 is a view taken on the line VV of FIG- URE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a view taken on the line VI-VI of FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 7 is a view taken on the line VIIVII of FIGURE 4.

Referring more particularly to FIGURES 1 to 3 of the drawings, reference numeral 2 indicates the outer steel shell of a blast furnace having the usual ring 4 around the top from which a hopper 6 is suspended. A conical hell 8 is positioned within the hopper 6 and supports the material which is to be charged into the furnace. This is done by lowering the bell 8 in the usual manner. A refractory lining 10 is provided within the shell 2 with a slight clearance therebetween to permit expansion. The parts so far described are conventional.

3,358,985 Patented Dec. 19, 196'? According to our invention a generally horizontal segmental metal ring 12 is Welded to the shell 2 above the stockline. A plurality of hanger bolts 14 are suspended from the ring 12 in spaced apart relationship around the periphery thereof. The lower end of each bolt 14 is bent inwardly to provide a flange 16 on which a circular ring plate 18 rests, the plate 18 being welded to the bolts 14. Generally vertical bars 20 are arranged in spaced apart relationship around the furnace wall and are suspended from the ring plate 18. For best support, the plate 20 has an upper horizontal flange 22 which rests on the bar 18. The bottom of bar 20 has an outwardly extending generally horizontal flange 24 for a purpose which will appear later. Pairs of circular ring plates 26 are welded to the bars 20 in spaced apart relationship. The parts 14 to 26 are preferably made of steel and when welded together provide a supporting structure for wear plates 28 which preferably are made of cast steel. Each of the plates 28 has a pair of outer flanges 30 with holes 32 therein for receiving bolts 34 which pass through corresponding holes in bars 26. Each plate 28 has an upper flange 36 extending toward the shell 2 which provides additional support for the plate 28 thereabove and also provides a better joint between the plates 28. After the parts so far described are assembled within a blast furnace steel reinforcing bars 38 are positioned as shown in FIGURE 1 and a castable refractory 40 is cast around the assembly with a space 42 being provided between the castable refractory 40 and shell 2. The flanges 24 provide additional support for the castable refractory 40. While the bars 20 are shown as extending slightly inwardly from their point of suspension they may be suspended vertically with inner surfaces 44 of wear plates 28 also being vertical. Since the stockline wear zone wall is suspended and does not rest upon the refractory wall 10 it will not fall into the furnace if the brick wall 10 moves downwardly or burns away. Also the wearing surface 44 of the wear plates 28 is larger than the wearing surfaces of the plates previously used so that the number of openings between the plates is reduced. Also, because of the construction of the wall at the stockline wear zone it is possible to have a larger throat diameter which will decrease the velocity of the blast furnace gases, thus reducing the fines of burden removed from the furnace in the gas.

In the embodiment of our invention shown in FIG- URES 4 to 7 a ring 12 is supported as in the first embodiment. Long hanger bolts 46 are suspended from the ring 12 in spaced apart relationship. The bolts 46 extend to the bottom of the stockline wear zone and are preferably flattened over the majority of their length so that circular ring plates 48 and 50 can be better welded thereto. While the ring plates 48 and 50 extend completely around the periphery of the furnace they need not be made in a single piece. Bolts 46 and rings 48 and 50 provide a supporting structure for the wear plates. As shown bottom wear plate 52 has a generally vertical leg 54 which serves as the wearing surface, a horizontal bottom leg 56, an upper vertical outer flange 58, a bottom vertical lower flange 59 and a vertical web 60 connecting the leg 54 to the flanges 58 and 59. Flange 59 is bolted to the lowest ring 48 and flange 58 is bolted to the bottom of ring 50. Two sets of wear plates 61 are arranged above the wear plates 52. Each wear plate 61 has a generally vertical leg 62 connected by a generally horizontal leg 64 to a downwardly extending leg 66 which passes over the top of ring 50 and the associated ring 48. It will be understood that ring 50 may be replaced by two rings 48, but it is preferred to use a single ring at this point. The flanges 66 are bolted to the respective associated rings. A plurality of sets of wear plates 68 are arranged above the plate 61. Each of the plates 68 consists of a generally vertical inner leg 70 which is connected to a generally vertical outer leg 72 by means of generally horizontal leg 74. The legs 72 are bolted to associated rings 48. The wear plates may be made of a ferrous casting or from steel plates as desired.

In making up the wall, the bolts 46 are assembled with the ring plates 48 and 50 and suspended from the ring 12. This may be done by using a plurality of bars for each of the rings 48 and 50 and assembling outside of the furnace as units with a number of bolts 46, or the bolts can be set in place in the furnace and the ring plates 48 and 50 welded thereto in the furnace. The wear plates 52 are then installed by bolting to the associated rings and eight courses of refractory brick 76 laid on top of the vertical legs 56. The lowest row of plates 61 is then placed on top of the eight courses of brick 76 and secured to plate 50. Four courses of brick are then laid on top of leg 64 and the second set of plates 61 are set on top of these bricks and fastened to the associated ring plate 48. Four courses of bricks 76 are then placed on top of the legs 64 of these plates after which the plates 68 are placed on top of the bricks and fastened to the associated ring plate 48. The additional plates 68 are then positioned with two courses of brick 76 being placed on top of each horizontal leg 74. Reinforcing bars 78 are then placed in the space between the shell 2 and the bricks 76 and a castable refractory 80 poured into this space. In positioning the wear plates, the plates in each tier are staggered horizontally as shown in FIGURE so that the edges of each wear plate are located at the center of the plates in the tier directly above or below. It will be seen that this embodiment of our invention has the same advantages as that of the first embodiment.

While two embodiments of our invention have been shown and described it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A stockline lining for a blast furnace having an outer metal shell, comprising a generally horizontal ring secured to the outer shell above the stockline, a supporting structure suspended from said ring, wear plates supported by said supporting structure, and a refractory lining supported by said supporting structure.

2. A stockline lining according to claim 1 in which said supporting structure includes spaced apart generally vertical members dependent from said ring, and generally horizontal bars spaced apart vertically and secured to said vertical members, said wear plates being attached to said horizontal bars.

3. A stockline lining according to claim 2 in which said wear plates have generally vertical legs secured to said horizontal bars.

4. A stockline lining according to claim 2 in which each of said wear plates has a generally horizontal leg, a generally vertical outer leg secured to an associated horizontal bar, and a generally vertical inner leg forming a part of the inner wall of the blast furnace.

5. A stockline lining according to claim 4 in which said refractory lining includes bricks supported by said generally horizontal legs, and a cast-able refractory surrounding said vertical members and said outer legs.

6. A stockline lining according to claim 4 in which said refractory lining includes a castable refractory secured to and surrounding said supporting structure.

7. A stockline lining for a blast furnace having an outer metal shell, comprising a generally horizontal metal ring secured to the outer metal shell above the stockline, a supporting structure suspended from said ring, and a castable refractory secured to and surrounding said supporting structure, said supporting structure including a plurality of spaced apart bolts secured to said ring and extending downwardly therefrom, a generally horizontal ring plate extending between and secured to said bolts below said metal ring, spaced apart bars secured to said ring plate and extending downwardly therefrom, generally horizontal bars spaced apart vertically and secured to said first named bars, and wear plates secured to said last named bars and extending therefrom on the side opposite said metal shell, the inner surface of said wear plates forming a part of the inner Wall of the blast furnace.

8. A stockline lining for a blast furnace having an out er metal shell, comprising a generally horizontal ring secured to the outer shell above the stockline, a supporting structure suspended from said ring, wear plates supported by said supporting structure, and a refractory lining supported by said supporting structure, said supporting structure including a plurality of spaced apart bolts secured to said ring and extending downwardly therefrom, generally horizontal bars spaced apart vertically and secured to said bolts, each of said wear plates having a generally horizontal leg, a generally vertical outer leg secured to an associated horizontal bar and a generally vertical inner leg forming a part of the inner wall of the blast furnace, said refractory lining including bricks supported by said generally horizontal legs and a castable refractory surrounding said bolts and the outer legs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,028,968 1/1936 Carlstrom 25l55.5 2,486,348' 10/1949 Wehr 266-43 2,548,908 4/1951 Pellen 26643 X 3,143,586 8/1964 Katchmar et a1. 266-43 X WILLIAM J. STEPHENSON, Primary Examiner.

E. MAR, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A STOCKLINE LINING FOR A BLAST FURNACE HAVING AN OUTER METAL SHELL, COMPRISING A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL RING SECURED TO THE OUTER SHELL ABOVE THE STOCKLINE, A SUPPORTING STRUCTURE SUSPENDED FROM SAID RING, WEAR PLATES SUPPORTED BY SAID SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, AND A REFRACTORY LINING SUPPORTED BY SAID SUPPORTING STRUCTURE. 